HS girls lacrosse: Staples storms into semis

The Staples High girls lacrosse team has a pretty bad habit of losing its focus after taking big leads.

To the consternation of head coach Cathy Schager, the Wreckers did it again in the first round of the FCIAC playoffs Friday afternoon against Ridgefield, allowing the Tigers to come back from a 6-1 deficit to take a 9-7 lead early in the second half.

"We're totally capable of being a very, very strong team but sometimes we mentally check out for a while," Schager said. "I don't know if they want the games to be more interesting or something. They just don't like to stay on top."

Good thing the Wreckers also have a habit of turning the switch back on at a moment's notice. Or in this case, at the request of their coach.

Schager challenged a number of her top players after the mid-game letdown and the top-seeded Wreckers responded with eight unanswered goals to end the second half to post a 15-9 victory over No. 8 Ridgefield at the Staples High School stadium field.

Senior Nikki Seo scored two straight goals to tie the game 9-9 then assisted on the go-ahead tally by Adele Mackey with 12:07 left in the second half and Staples was never challenged after that.

Seo finished with four goals and two assists while Mackey, Jessie Ambrose and Maeve Flaherty collected three goals and one assist each for Staples (16-1), which will face No. 4 Darien in the FCIAC semifinals at 7 p.m. Monday at New Canaan's Dunning Field.

Schager is hoping the team she saw over the final 20 minutes against the Tigers (11-6) shows up against the Blue Wave.

"When we play a disciplined game we're very strong. We're still getting into the habit of maintaining momentum," Schager said. "In the second half they did what I was asking them to do the whole game."

This was a day of firsts for the Wreckers, who earned the first No. 1 seed for the FCIAC playoffs in program history while playing the first-ever home game in the conference tournament. They also set a school record for wins (16) in one season, surpassing last year's total by one.

But Staples wasn't going to leave the field without the most important No. 1 of all, it's first-ever FCIAC playoff victory.

Staples reached the playoffs for the first time last season and lost to Greenwich in the opening round.

"Everyone says everything could stop right now and it would still be quite a season," Schager said. "But none of us feel like that way. None of us are okay with that."

The Wreckers will now have a chance to prove themselves against Darien (10-7), the one perennial FCIAC powerhouse it didn't play during the regular season. The Blue Wave posted an 11-7 victory over No. 5 Fairfield Ludlowe Friday afternoon.

"We're very excited about that," Seo said. "I was actually pretty bummed that we weren't scheduled to play them during the regular season. So we've been waiting for this for a while. I think if we keep playing our game it doesn't matter who we go against. I think we're ready."

Staples, which defeated Greenwich and New Canaan and suffered its only loss of the regular season against Wilton, got off to a blazing start as Flaherty was dominating the faceoff circle. The Wreckers scored on their first five shots to take a 5-0 lead with 18:34 left in the first half then extended the advantage to 6-1 with 15:53 left.

"It's interesting because we usually start slow and then pick it up," Seo said. "The fact that we came out so strong, I think it was our strongest start so far, that just set the tone for the game."

Ridgefield, a young team making its first appearance in the FCIAC playoffs, stormed back behind the offensive firepower of Shauna Norris (three goals), Melissa Galione (two goals, one assist), the great all-around play of Taylor Fischer (one goal, two assists) and the hustle on defense by Casey Brody.

The Tigers scored six of the final seven goals of the first half, including one by Galione with 10 seconds left, to tie it 7-7 at halftime.

Ridgefield then opened the second half with two unanswered goals by Norris and Eliza Marcus to take a 9-7 lead and started thinking upset.

"We definitely gave them a run for their money during the regular season and we were definitely looking to do the same thing tonight," said Ridgefield coach Michelle Ralph, whose team dropped a 14-10 home decision against the Wreckers in the first meeting this year. "We definitely weren't going to just show up and let them have an easy game. We were ready to give them a game. And we did."

That's when Schager called a timeout to let her team know she wasn't happy about what was going on.

"We have some tremendous athletes and some very competitive girls," she said. "When you hold people directly accountable, they usually respond."

That's what Staples did as Seo cut across the front of the cage, reversed her field then beat Ridgefield goalie Maggie Philbin (eight saves) going to the right. Seo scored off a feed from Remy Nolan (two assists) to tie it 9-9 and after Philbin robbed the always hustling Ali Crofts (two goals) and Flaherty on consecutive possessions, Mackey notched the go-ahead goal on a pass from Seo out of the left corner.

Staples went on to scored five more goals, including two by Ambrose, the second on a nifty underhand shot while cutting to the left with 8:36 left, to put the game out of reach.

Once the Wreckers got their offense rolling, the same Ridgefield defense that got the Tigers back in the game in the first half was powerless to stop it.

"Staples is a team that hustles 100 percent of the time," Ralph said. "We were ready to go with that hustle for a very long time, but we're a better first-half team and we had trouble keeping the momentum."

Flaherty was instrumental in the victory with her work in the faceoff circle. After having trouble with Fischer and Marcus in the middle portion of the game, Flaherty kicked her draw controls into high gear, winning the final five of the second half to power the late-game surge.

"The same thing happened against New Canaan and Greenwich," Schager said. "I pulled her to the side and told her I needed her to start winning draws. She just tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Okay coach.' And she was unstoppable after that."

Elizabeth Driscoll added two assists and goalie Penny Tsilfides made nine saves to post the win for Staples, which finished with a 26-24 edge in shots.